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Thursday, February 6, 2014

San Onofre Community Engagement Panel to encourage public dialogue

Below is a press release from Southern California Edison.

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Media Contact: Maureen Brown, (626) 302-2255

SCE Announces Chairman, Some Members of Community Engagement Panel to Encourage Public Dialogue on San Onofre Nuclear Plant Decommissioning

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Feb. 6, 2014 — Southern California Edison (SCE) announced today that David G. Victor, a University of California, San Diego professor and expert on energy markets, will serve as chairman of a new Community Engagement Panel (CEP) to foster public education and involvement during the decommissioning of the San Onofre nuclear plant.

Victor, 48, a professor of international relations and director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at UC San Diego’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, is recognized among energy leaders as a forward-looking voice on critical energy issues, said Ron Litzinger, president of SCE, the majority owner of San Onofre.

“David Victor has the vision, leadership and experience to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure the San Onofre decommissioning proceeds in a thoughtful and inclusive way,” Litzinger said. “He shares our commitment to leave the community better off given that it has been home to San Onofre for the past 40 years.”

Victor said his work on the board of Electric Power Research Institute and as chairman of EPRI’s Advisory Council for two years helped prepare him for the CEP role.

“To serve a broader public mission, it’s important to solicit views from a wide array of stakeholders,” Victor said. “Because I served in that role at EPRI, I know firsthand the importance of being responsive to diverse voices to ensure broad public interests are served in a major undertaking like decommissioning San Onofre.”

The CEP will serve as a conduit of information between the owners and the public. Organizations and their representatives that have accepted invitations to serve on the CEP include: American Nuclear Society, San Diego Chapter (Edward “Ted” Quinn); Capistrano Unified School District Board of Trustees (President John Alpay); Dana Point (Mayor Lisa Bartlett); Laborers International Union of North America Local 89 (Valentine “Val” Macedo); Oceanside (City Councilmember Jerome M. “Jerry” Kern); Orange County Coastkeeper (Garry Brown); Orange County Sheriff's Department (Donna Boston); Orange County (Supervisor Pat Bates); Residents Organized for a Safe Environment (Gene Stone); San Clemente (Mayor Tim Brown); San Diego County (Supervisor Bill Horn); San Juan Capistrano (Mayor Sam Allevato); and South Orange County Economic Coalition (Jim Leach). Organizations that plan to participate and will name a CEP member later are the California State Parks and Camp Pendleton. The owners also are in the process of inviting members to represent academia and environmental research.

Leading the effort for Edison International is Chris Thompson, vice president of Decommissioning. Thompson will oversee the decommissioning process, working closely with Tom Palmisano, SCE vice president and chief nuclear officer. Thompson will place special focus on making sure the company keeps the lines of communication open with the community. Thompson, who joined Edison International last August, previously was chief of staff to Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Last week, the San Onofre co-owners announced the safety, stewardship and engagement guiding principles for San Onofre decommissioning, including creation of the CEP.

SCE intends to complete decommissioning as expeditiously as possible. Litzinger noted the guiding principles call for safely moving San Onofre used nuclear fuel, currently in cooling pools, into dry cask storage as quickly as possible until the federal government, as required, develops a permanent solution.

The CEP will hold public meetings at least quarterly to offer input on key decommissioning issues. These include the timing of transferring used nuclear fuel from pools to dry cask storage and SCE’s blueprint for decommissioning, a detailed document called a Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report to be submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by mid-year.

Updates about the CEP will be available on www.songscommunity.com, along with information about CEP members and the decommissioning process, including NRC oversight.

The current owners of San Onofre are SCE, San Diego Gas and Electric and the city of Riverside. The city of Anaheim was a previous owner. Current and previous owners are responsible for decommissioning.

SCE announced June 7 that it would retire San Onofre Units 2 and 3, and begin preparations to decommission the facility. The site workforce has been reduced to 520, a reduction of more than 900 employees. For more information about SCE, visit www.songscommunity.com.

About Southern California EdisonAn Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.